Revising Feminist Activism
Why We Need to Rethink our Current Approach so as to not have the Movement Hijacked by the GIRLPOWER mutants
The level to which feminist activism has been taken flippantly by those who oppose egalitarian ideals has historically been high. The response often held by dissenters of feminism is to belittle the movement into nothing more than a small set of silly ideas promoted by grotesque women. And in the continuation of such activism in the 21st century, because the vast layers of sexist thinking continue to be unpeeled, feminist activism has evolved to produce a narrative that includes far more issues than women’s suffrage.

Each wave of the feminist movement introduces new focal points of feminist activism that disperses the energy among its supporters. There are the issues of reproductive justice, body shaming, slut shaming, mansplaining, etc. — that the list of such causes seems to all fall under the umbrella of FEMINISM. This being said, as our feminist narrative continues to develop as we uncover more of the ways in which sexism continues to be a detriment to women’s success and capabilities, we often forget that feminism is a movement, a fighting ground on which we must pick and choose our battles.
It’s common knowledge at this point that calling out sexism is an act of courage. As writer Dana Schwartz wrote in 2016, “That’s the favorite stereotype, that the woman complaining about sexism is only doing so because she’s never benefited from being pretty enough to objectify. The word feminism has lost a minor PR battle. Now, we are all bitter, jealous and man-hating, not to mention ugly. Empirical evidence aside (I mean, have you seen Beyoncé or Emma Watson?) I’ll just be straightforward and say that’s not the case and you know it.”
She’s right about one thing — it’s that the word feminism has become such a blanketed term that it’s come to represent the work of such a variety of women — from The Greats, like Andrea Dworkin and Gloria Steinem to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Hillary Clinton to Ivanka Trump. But the work, ideas, and motives of all of these women varies so greatly that there isn’t even an excuse for nuance or slight disagreement — the term feminism hasn’t quite been, what you might call, “appropriated” for the agendas of individuals, but the definition has broadened to include such different schools of thought that it confounds, complicates, and depreciates what feminism should really be.
“Ivanka feminism” or “empowerment feminism” is perhaps the most concerning school of thought emerging not just among those complicit with elitist ideals, but also among young women who are susceptible to the idea that rocking a nice jacket will turn you into the BOSS BITCH you’re meant to be (I’m looking at you, Girlboss). But we know why this is happening. Watering down a movement slowly to make it more palatable to the masses gets more people on board with what they THINK is a feminist cause. Of course there is neoliberalism and social media to blame, and I’ve already written at length about such kind of feminism here and here, but I want to expand upon my reproach of feminism being rhetorically hijacked for bleak causes that damage the name.
I believe we’re seeing a trend in misunderstanding feminism as a MOVEMENT. When events such as International Women’s Day and even aspects of the Women’s March exude this disingenuous “WOOHOO GIRL POWER!!!” vibe that distorts the mission at hand and reflexes feminist actions back to the individual, feminists begin to see their activism through pussy-hat-pink-rose-colered glasses. While feminsim is broadening to include the schools of thought promoted by Ivanka Trump, it’s continuing to exclude trans women, women of color, and women in foreign countries.
As an active movement, meant to push significant boundaries and enact significant change, I worry that as the term feminism becomes slowly adopted by those without truly feminist intentions, we’ll see a response to this form of feminism that is truly justified — a joke of a movement with no real foundation. This is what dissenters of feminism think when they say that third wave feminism is bullshit, women already have rights, blah blah blah. Broadening our understanding of feminisms comes with broadening our interpretations of sexist behaviors, but with that needs to come discretion and prioritization of the battles we must fight.
Feminist activism gets confounded when our rhetorical strategies don’t match our actual goals. We don’t need another series of BOSS BITCH books, we don’t need to be calling out Lena Dunham’s Instagram commenters, and we don’t need to be freely doling out the use of the word “EMPOWERMENT” every which way. What we, as feminists, deserve to do for ourselves and for our cause is to pick our battles in which we must fight.
